EXCLUSIVE by Eloise Horsfield
AN animal shelter has been accused of picking up pets from outside their homes and then demanding money for their safe return.
Two expat cat owners in the same urbanisation in Torrox are furious after they were forced to pay 200 euros to Don Animal to get their pets back.
Pat Allcock was ordered to shell out 250 euros after her cat Bubbles was taken from near her home in Torrox Park.
After a long search she discovered that her cat had been taken by Don Animal, a company employed by the town hall to pick up abandoned or stray animals.
“I have no idea why they took her,” said Pat, 66, whose pet is chipped and entirely legal.
“I just noticed one day she wasn’t there,” said the Londoner, whose husband Roger was in hospital in Malaga at the time with a burst colon.
After a month of worry she eventually got a call from the centre miles away in Rincon de la Victoria telling her to come and pick her up.
“We were overjoyed obviously but could not believe it when they tried to charge us 250 euros for food and keep,” continued Pat.
“She was actually a bag of bones and was really traumatised. I don’t think she’d have lived another week.
“She’d been kept in a pound with two other wild cats that were eating her food.”
Eventually, after a long argument, the company agreed to let Pat have Bubbles back for just 100 euros.
“It’s taken six weeks to get her back to a normal state,” she added.
Incredibly, it has emerged that another resident of Torrox Park has also fallen victim to the cat clampers.
60-year-old Susan Baldwin was also forced to pay 100 euros after her cat Cheryl was taken.
“It was like being held to ransom,” said Susan.
“They should never have taken Cheryl and should have had a chip reader in their van.
“It is blackmail, basically.
“We have complained to the town hall but I don’t think we’ll get any money back,” she added.
When the Olive Press demanded an explanation from Don Animal, a spokesman said: “Andalucian law states no animal can be loose on the public highway without its owner and without being on a lead.
“Having a microchip is a legal obligation – it doesn’t mean animals are allowed to run free in the street.
“It’s a bit like towing away a badly-parked car,” they reasoned.
They added that they were simply following orders in picking up the cats.
“It is frankly ludicrous,” said Mary Page from ADANA, a charity for abandoned animals in Estepona.
“Of course the law doesn’t apply to cats. Who is going to put a cat on a lead? If I saw someone in the street with a cat on a lead, I’d think they’d come from a psychiatric hospital.
“I know stray cats are a big problem, but the town halls aren’t doing anything to help,” she said.
“It needs to be proactive, not reactive. It needs to work with the vets and the animal charities, and employ useful measures such as neutering.”
Have you been a victim? Email eloise@theolivepress.es
yeah cos of course every owner has their cat on a lead ………
just a money maker nada mas
Keep a cat on a lead??!! What a bunch of thieving ratbags. Are things really so dire in Spain that people are reduced to this? What next, tourists hauled off to the nick for walking around without a passport?
“Of course the law doesn’t apply to cats. Who is going to put a cat on a lead? If I saw someone in the street with a cat on a lead, I’d think they’d come from a psychiatric hospital.”
But letting these animals crap everywhere they want is the reasonable rational thing to do?
Two words. Litter tray.
They must be feline the pinch to sink to this disgraceful level of behaviour.
I wonder if this “shelter” bothers to go and steal animals belonging to Spaniards?
Probably not, as most of them aren’t chipped and therefore it’s not possible to track down the owners in order to blackmail them
If this happens to you, threaten to go to Europe, accuse them of racism etc, and get the Mayor involved – they should then back off as it will be too much hassle for them
Hey Lisa, can I accuse them of racism even if my cat is white, blue eyed and called Adolf ?
Saynomore
You can do whatever you like in Spain, didn’t you know?
I was always of the thought that because cats are classified as preditors they were able to roam free. You can not put a cat on a lead nor can you make it stay inside its own yard. Sounds like a scam to me.
Litter tray Barbara. Litter tray!!! That way you keep the makers of the devil’s liquorice in your own home.
Ben: How exactly does that work? Do you ask your pussy to drop one before he’s allowed out? And then he’s on his honour not to do any more, (even after three mice and a couple of cucarachas) While you’re at it, forbid all singing to girl-friends.